I-1-10-10.Hearing Office Procedures When Processing a Subsequent Application After Appeals Council (AC) Action on Prior Application

While a prior application is pending at the AC level, the hearing office
(HO) will not act on the subsequent application until the AC has taken
final action. See HALLEX
I-1-10-5. In part, HOs do not
process these cases because the action taken by the AC may render the
subsequent application moot or duplicative.

NOTE:

After the AC takes action on the prior claim, it will notify the HO of the
action, as described in HALLEX
I-1-10-40.

An administrative law judge (ALJ) may only take action on a subsequent
application that is consistent with the AC action. Additionally, an ALJ
must comply with any directive from the AC regarding a subsequent
application.

When drafting a decision for a subsequent application, an ALJ must comply
with any relevant ARs addressing consideration of findings in prior final
ALJ decisions. As noted in the ARs below, if the claimant resides in the
Fourth, Sixth, or Ninth Circuits, the ALJ must adopt prior
administratively final hearing decision findings in a subsequent
application, unless certain conditions are met.

NOTE:

When the prior hearing decision is pending review before the AC, the prior
hearing decision is not final. Adjudicators must be careful not to apply
the ARs prematurely.

The applicable ARs are:

4th Circuit (Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Virginia, and West Virginia) –
AR
00-1(4): Albright v. Commissioner of the Social
Security Administration.

If there is reason to believe that a revised determination would be fully
favorable to the claimant, and the action would not be inconsistent with
an AC directive, the ALJ may remand the case to the State agency under the
conditions in 20
CFR 404.948(c) and
416.1448(c).
See also HALLEX
I-2-5-12.

Upon notification of the AC's denial or dismissal of a request for review,
the HO will remove the subsequent application case characteristic, assign
the case file for pre-hearing screening, and follow procedures in HALLEX
I-2-1-5 to process the
request for hearing on the subsequent application based on the date of the
hearing request.

Associate the AC remand order with the pending subsequent application;

Review the AC remand order for instructions concerning processing of the
subsequent application;

NOTE:

The AC remand order will not always include specific processing
instructions regarding a subsequent application. See HALLEX
I-1-10-25. This is not a
reason to request clarification of a remand order. However, if the AC does
not adequately address a subsequent application such that the ALJ cannot
carry out the directives set forth in the remand order or the remand
directives were rendered moot because of the two applications, the ALJ may
request clarification using the procedures in HALLEX
I-2-1-85.

When instructed, consolidate or associate the claims and close the Case
Processing and Management System (CPMS) record for the subsequent
application as a technical dismissal using CPMS disposition code
“OTDI”;

NOTE:

The ALJ will NOT issue an actual dismissal order.

Update CPMS for the remaining claim and follow procedures in HALLEX
I-2-1-5 to process the
AC remand.

When both claims are fully electronic, use the “Join Claims”
feature in the eView Status/History tab of the remand to join the remanded
and subsequent claims, and

Add relevant documents from the subsequent claim to the remanded claim to
be exhibited.

Upon notification of the AC's partially favorable or unfavorable decision,
the HO will:

Review the AC decision and determine whether it resolves the issue(s) in
the subsequent application.

NOTE:

An unfavorable AC decision rarely resolves the issue(s) in a subsequent
application because an unfavorable AC decision will usually address only
the period through the date of the ALJ's decision.

If there is no issue(s) to be resolved, close the CPMS record for the
subsequent application as a technical dismissal using CPMS disposition
code “OTDI.”

NOTE:

The ALJ will NOT issue an actual dismissal order.

When there is an issue(s) to be resolved, assign the case for pre-hearing
screening and follow procedures in HALLEX
I-2-1-5 to process the
hearing request on the subsequent application based on the date of the
hearing request.